13

The angel has arrived

 

 

Uria

 

“PROTECT the Angel!” His voice, hoarse from the dust he’d breathed during his work in the mines these past few weeks, was drowned out by the screams of the fight that had erupted. But somehow, someone must have heard him, because Uriah heard his words passing through the multitude, repeated by people left and right.

In front of him, people started to move. They no longer seemed weakened now that they moved as a single entity toward the gate, Uriah mused. He felt a cold shiver running down his neck. This wasn’t just a procession – it was a stampede.

The jeering people formed a shield around Franz Gabriel and Baikal. Uriah stretched his neck but realized he couldn’t see the two men anymore. And Emma – he turned around, his heart trapped in his throat. Where was Emma?! She’d been here, next to him, mere seconds ago. He’d swear he could still feel the warmth of her hand...

Elizabeth pushed him forward, and Uriah had no choice but to let the growing mob guide him in their surge toward the gate. They were on the edge of the crowd near the regrouping guards. Here and there, people dropped to the ground, but he couldn’t tell whether they were dead or they’d just stumbled. Dozens of voices pounded his ears. The gate will open!

“Come on, Franz!” Elizabeth groaned beside him. She’d clenched her hands into fists and stared continuously at the spot where the Angel had gone off to. “Now or never…”

Voices rang out all the way at the front. The guards were now trying to form a barricade between the open gate and the prisoners.

“They’re cheering,” Elizabeth whispered in awe.

“Head for the trees!” It was Baikal’s deep voice. “The gate is open – now run!”

The relief flooding Uriah’s body weakened his legs momentarily. He couldn’t put one foot in front of the other. Elizabeth grabbed his hand.

“Wait!” Uriah called out. “Where’s Emma..?”

“With the mothers over there. Hurry up, run for it!”

He didn’t see Emma, but he could see Esmeralda a bit further up, surrounded by a number of other people holding their children close. He automatically fell into step with the rest of the people like a cow in a runaway herd bolting for freedom. His heart beat wildly with every step. It was like Franz Gabriel had predicted – even though this wasn’t nearly a multitude of five thousand, it still felt like he was part of an unstoppable tsunami.

I can’t believe we did it. In mere seconds he’d have reached the gate. It was wide open, inviting and liberating. The thick cables of steel were useless now that the power had been switched off. How much longer do we have?

It hadn’t occurred to him to count the minutes, and he cursed himself for not doing so. So many people were here – what if Franz Gabriel and Baikal couldn’t get all of them through in time?

Twenty more yards… fifteen… He saw that a few women had brought oil lamps from the barracks. The lights went from hand to hand. Uriah frantically looked around to spot the red coat he was looking for, to see a flash of golden-blonde hair…

The crackling sound of the gun was louder than he’d expected. Maybe because he was closer to Esmeralda than he’d realized.

Blood on the ground, just like last night. More than last night. Uriah tripped, and Elizabeth’s hand slipped from his grip. Someone bumped into him and landed on top of him, uttering a curse. His fall caused an instant hold-up.

More shots rang out. They sounded sickeningly close by.

God, this is it, Uriah thought. He couldn’t scramble to his feet, because the people around him surged forward in a panic, trying to go around him, stepping on top of him… I’m going to die.

He made himself as small as possible, curling up into a ball by raising his arms above his head and pulling up his knees. Every time someone tripped over him, he felt a thudding pain pounding into his body. A sticky and warm substance stained his hair.

Now it sounded like someone was shouting orders. It was followed by an animalistic scream of agony, then a satisfied murmuring coming from many throats.

Uriah risked looking up. A small space had opened up in front of him, and through it he saw the bloody shreds of a guard’s uniform. A sleeve. The fingers were still sticking out of the opening.

His heart hammered in his chest. The people who’d seem Esmeralda getting shot had hurled themselves onto the soldier who’d fired the gun like ravenous bears. The man had only managed to utter a single cry before dropping his gun and…

Uriah stared at the mangled body of the man while people shuffled past him on his left and right. Even if he’d wanted to, he wouldn’t have succeeded in moving just a single muscle.

“Get up,” a voice hissed in his ear. Elizabeth. She roughly dragged him to his feet. “What are you waiting for? We’re almost there!”

“Wait – Emma!” His gaze was caught by a flash of bright red.

Emma had a strange expression on her face. Uriah imagined her hands to be just as red as her coat as she detached herself from Esmeralda’s cold body and lifted the baby from her dead arms. Just as he wanted to call out to her she uttered a few hoarse cries. He didn’t understand a single word she was saying, but apparently the people around her did, because they reacted immediately. They lifted her up onto their shoulders while she was still holding the baby in her arms. Emma was now sticking out above the crowd, a scraggy, scrawny blonde girl with dirty hands.

Seeing her like that seemed to jolt him awake. Uriah started to move. “Put her down!” he howled, elbowing his way through the prisoners to get closer. “They’ll pump her full of lead! Emma!”

She partially turned around and their gazes collided. My God, wasn’t she scared? Five guards had forced their way to the front and were now headed for her, their guns pointed at her face.

“Put her down, you idiots!” Uriah screamed, feeling the panic lapping at his insides like a hot flame.

Emma saw the danger. That was good – she’d say something to the people carrying her. She’d seek safety and anonymity within the group of refugees – wouldn’t she?

But she didn’t. Instead, she held the baby close to her chest for a moment, then raised him up even higher into the air, her arms outstretched toward the sky. For one heart-stopping moment, Uriah thought she would drop him.

“This baby will live in freedom!” Emma shouted. “Who will dare to stop us? Who will shoot a baby?”

“Fool!” Elizabeth said. All the blood seemed to have drained from her face.

Everything that happened next unfolded as though Uriah was watching it in slow-motion. The guard at the front cocked his head and put his gun to his shoulder like he was looking forward to taking the shot. The barrel went up. Next to him was a young man. He wasn’t staring at Emma, but at the baby. Blood stained his collar. Uriah vaguely noticed that his eyes were swollen. Hadn’t he seen this man before – always staying near Esmeralda? Uriah couldn’t remember ever hearing him speak. Even now he didn’t say a word. He wasn’t even shouting, but the shot he fired rocked Uriah to the core. The bullet wasn’t intended for Emma, nor was it aimed at the baby or one of the other prisoners. Instead, the guard at the front spasmed as though he’d hit the electric fence and slumped to the ground.

The effect was instantaneous. The remaining three guards turned around to face the young man. He had no chance of getting away alive, Uriah realized. Quickly, he averted his gaze from what followed.

At any rate, the dead guard had given their group the chance they needed. For just an instant, the guards were preoccupied with something else – the traitor, or in Uriah’s case, the guardian angel, who’d just shot one of his own. But he wasn’t the only heavenly messenger in their midst. He couldn’t take his eyes off Emma.

Angels, messengers of God, with swords of flame… In the flickering light, with the baby in her arms and her tangled curls, she looked more like an angel than Sophia ever had.

He hardly registered passing the gate and running down the platform, until Elizabeth halted for a moment to catch her breath and he automatically stopped as well so as not to lose sight of her. She was panting like the sudden sense of freedom was too overwhelming for her.

“We did it – I never thought we’d…”

“Keep running,” Uriah said. “Run, for as long as they don’t understand what they’ve just witnessed.”